A Free Christmas
by KH777
Summary: Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone! Here's a collaboration with Robin and I to celebrate the season! Let's see how our protagonists celebrate the holidays...


_This is by no means intended to be yaoi._ Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone! Robin and I did a Christmas fan fiction to celebrate the holiday. She played the following characters: Haruka, Nagisa, Rin, and Gou. I played the following characters: Makoto, Aiichiro, and Rei. The timeline this is based in is between the first and second season of the anime. Also, since Robin and I are not Japanese, I apologize that this is probably not accurate to Christmas in Japan, but, we did try to make it generic-ish.

Haru was standing in his kitchen, cooking himself his usual choice of breakfast, Mackerel. It was already starting to smell really good.

It was Christmas Eve, and it was very cold, so he was wearing a blue coat, though he was wearing his apron over that. He grabbed a nearby plate then, flipping the Mackerel onto it and turning the stove off. Then he walked over to his table, sitting on the floor to start eating.

A soft squeak came from the front of the house, and sure enough, soon a brunet young man adorned with a scarf and a brown coat came into the room. "Merry Christmas, Haru!" He greeted warmly, taking a seat across from his best friend.

"Oh, yeah, Merry Christmas to you too." Haru mumbled, before bending down to eat his Mackerel.

Mako nodded before proceeding to talk. "I hope you didn't forget about the party today. It is Christmas Eve after all."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, the Christmas party..." Haru said. It actually did slip his mind until Makoto mentioned it. He wondered if they were allowed to swim there...

His companion shook his head sheepishly, seeing his expression blank for a second. "Oh, you did forget, didn't you? Well, that's alright. Though, we'll need to find something you can bring as a present at least..."

Haru hummed in response, thinking about it as he took another bite of his fish. "Do you think Mackerel would work?"

Makoto let out a small, friendly chuckle. "No, probably not. Most of the time, people like something that lasts for a bit longer than a meal for a present."

"Well, what do you think everyone would want?" Haru asked, staring at Makoto.

"Hmm..." Mako tapped his finger on the desk in thought. "Well, most of the stores are closed and we don't really have time to go and out and buy something... Do you have anything that you bought but you didn't use?"

Haru tilted his head. "I have shirts I wouldn't mind giving to people."

His friend nodded. "That works just fine."

"Good." Haru said, pushing his now empty plate away from himself.

After Mako had found a proper box and wrapping for the present, the two teens headed down to the place where they planned the party, the pool where they train. Of course, there was a building there that the party would be in, so they wouldn't have to stand outside. They had invited Rin and his roommate Nitori to the party as well. Mako was excited and pleased for them all to be together.

…..

Nagisa bounced excitedly on the heels of his feet, as he waited for the train to stop at the destination he needed to be at. He chuckled to himself, glancing down at the stack of wrapped presents in his arms. He was very much excited for the Christmas party. And he may have had a bit too much fun with the presents.

As soon as the train stopped, Nagisa got off, trying not to walk too quickly so he wouldn't drop the presents. When he got to the pool area, he spotted Rei, and his eyes lit up. "Hey, Rei-chan!"

"Hello." Rei greeted him with a smile, standing up from where he was sitting. Seeing his arms full, he went over to assist him before he ended up dropping them.

"Thanks." Nagisa said, chuckling sheepishly. "Oh, and Merry Christmas! "

"Merry Christmas." He replied, bringing them over to where he had his presents.

Nagisa looked around, following Rei. "So, Haru-chan and Makoto-chan aren't here yet?"

"No, but I'm sure they'll be here soon." Finding the table, he set them down on it.

"Yeah, true. How long have you been here anyway?" Nagisa asked, putting his arms behind his back.

"For about fifteen minutes. I was trying to begin setting up."

"Oh, well, I'll help you!" Nagisa cheerfully volunteered.

"Yes, that would be helpful, thank you." Rei pushed up his glasses, and then handed the blond some decorations. The decorations were full of colorful displays of solid colors, including some with Santa and snowmen on them. "These can go anywhere, but spread them out."

Nagisa eagerly bobbed his head up and down. "Okay then!"

Rei's eyes lingered to Nagisa for a few moments before he set to work on his decorations. Nagisa began doing the same, making sure they weren't too close together, like Rei told him to. As the two were putting up the Christmas decorations, Nagisa frowned as he looked up at one part of the wall, seeing a place he wanted to stick one of the decorations at, yet being too short to reach it. He supposed it wasn't too big of a deal though. All he needed was a chair. He looked around then, and spotted a chair a little ways off. He walked over to it, dragging it over to the wall and climbing on it. He looked down at the dark green bow in his hands, adjusting it before looking back at the nail on the wall. After fiddling with it for a bit, he finally managed to get the bow to stick on the nail properly, he let out a small sigh, smiling at it in sanctification. Then he looked to the ground, about to hop off, but suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit him. He winced, leaning back slightly, though apparently leaning back too much, and he ended up falling right off the chair he was standing on.

Hearing a loud BOOM, Rei flipped around to see a disgruntled Nagisa sprawled out on the floor. Rushing over, Rei's glasses almost slipped off his nose in the process. "A-are you alright?!"

Nagisa groaned, sitting himself up a little. "Yeah, I think I'm fine..."

Sighing and shaking his head, Rei spoke again with a hint of a reprimand in his voice. "You should be more careful, you could have gotten hurt."

Nagisa laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess so. That fall probably could have been much worse."

"Don't just laugh about it!" Rei frowned, a bit exasperated. "How did that even happen?"

Looking down, Nagisa scratched at his cheek. "Umm… well, I just sort of got dizzy when I was standing on the chair, so I ended up falling."

"Dizzy? Have you taken good care of yourself?"

"I mean, I think so. It was probably because I was so high up and I was just out of it for a moment. I hope I'm not coming down with anything anyways!" Nagisa told him, slowly getting back up to his feet.

"Hopefully, it is flu season after all." Rei mused. "Here, you should stay inside. I can finish the decorations."

"Oh, well, okay then!" Nagisa called after him, dragging the chair back where he found it, at a table filled with a few other chairs.

As soon as Rei had finished with the decorations, two more guests strolled through, each carrying presents of their own. Mako waved at them as he and his companion came close.

"Oh, hey Makoto-chan, Haru-chan!" Nagisa happily greeted them, waving back. 'Merry Christmas guys!"

"Merry Christmas!" Makoto replied, his eyes falling to Nagisas' before they landed on the table with the gifts which he walked over to set his down.

Haru followed him, putting his present down as well. "What took you guys so long?" Nagisa asked teasingly, walking over to the two.

"Erm, sorry." Mako apologized sheepishly, glancing from Nagisa to Haruka, thinking perhaps it took longer to wrap Haru's present than he intended.

Haru glanced up at Makoto before looking away again, staying silent. "Nah, it's all good, everyone else isn't even here yet. Maybe Rei-chan and I just came too early!" Nagisa told Makoto, waving his hand dismissively.

"Well, anyways, why don't we play a game while we wait for Rin, Nitori and Gou?" Mako suggested.

"Ooh, sounds fun!" Nagisa quickly said, bouncing a little, and Haru shrugged. "Alright then."

"Fine by me. There are some board games here." Rei supplied, pressing up on the rim of his glasses.

While the four of them began to play their game, the other guests were yet to arrive. Actually, the train that they were on had been delayed, and it was farther away than they had anticipated. In fact, the smaller silvery haired boy had fallen asleep leaning against his friend.

Rin sighed, pulling out his phone for the one hundredth time to see how long it had been. He hoped they weren't going to be too late. He should probably text one of the others, actually. After thinking about it for a moment though, he decided against it, shaking his head and putting his phone back away, trying to move as little as possible so he wouldn't disturb Aiichiro's sleeping. It hadn't been that long yet, and they'd probably understand.

A few minutes later, the silvet stirred. While he was still waking up, he rubbed his eyes a little and leaned back straight against the seat. When he was more awake, he spoke sheepishly. "Erm, sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep..."

"Eh, its fine. I'm pretty tempted to take a nap myself." Rin responded, glancing down at Aiichiro.

"We have been on here a while..." Aii admitted before fishing his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "One of us should probably let them know what's going on."

Rin smiled a little at Aii, "Yeah, I guess. You can let them know then."

"Alright, I'll text them right now." Aii nodded and turned on his phone to send them the text.

"Right." Rin mumbled, leaning back in his seat and watching Aii as he wrote his text.

Just before he wrote the text, he phone let off a beeping sound before the screen went black. He frowned at it for a moment before commenting. "I think my phone is dead."

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Really? I guess I'll have to text them then." He pulled out his phone then, making sure it wasn't too low on batteries before going to text one of them.

"Yeah, sorry about that..." His companion trailed off, scratching the back of his head slightly.

"Eh, its fine, I don't mind." Rin told him as he typed, and after explaining the situation he and Aii were in, he sent the message.

Soon after the message was sent, the smaller boy took a glance out of the window and a grin spread across his features. "We're almost there, Rin!"

"About time." Rin sighed, putting his phone away and looking out the window as well. He couldn't wait until they were out of this train.

It wasn't much longer before the train came at a slow, screeching stop at the station. Unfortunately as Aiichiro stood up to exit the train, everyone had the same thought he had, and were on extreme impatience. Of course who could blame them? It was Christmas Eve and they all had far greater activities than sitting on a delayed train. So, as soon as the boy had stood up, he was knocked back down again, shoved roughly against Rin in his wake.

"Are you alright?" Rin quickly asked, putting a hand on his shoulder and staring at him in concern.

He was stunned for a few seconds before he regained himself. "Uh... Yeah, I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting everyone to be so pushy..."

"Yeah, talk about rude. I guess we'll just have to wait until it's less crowded." Rin said, crossing his arms. Nitori nodded in agreement and tucked his legs below the seat so that he wouldn't trip anyone. So, they waited for a few minutes as the others pushed and shoved their way through, simply making things slower. The noise was surrounding them was casual conversation and irritated yelling mixed together in an awkward symphony. Finally, as it mostly cleared out, the silvet glanced to the west and the east, and then deemed it safe to traverse.

Rin stood up then, stretching. "Ugh, finally. What a mess that was." He glanced down at Aii. "You ready to get going then?"

"Yeah, let's get going." Aii agreed with a nod.

"Alright." Rin said, turning to leave the train and stepping off of it, the cold wind immediately hitting his face. The silvet shivered at the sudden gust that blew through, pulling at his fuzzy scarf for the warmth it provided.

Rin glanced down at Aii for a moment taking in a breath and continuing to walk. Though as they were getting closer to where they were going to hold the Christmas party, they soon spotted a familiar purple haired girl standing not too far ahead of them. She happened to glance over her shoulder then, catching sight of the two young men, and stopped walking. "Oh, hey, Rin, Aii!"

"Oh hello!" Aii smiled warmly, raising his hand to wave at her before adding sheepishly. "I guess we were both delayed huh?"

Gou nodded, returning the smile. "Yeah... I didn't expect it to take so long. I hope we didn't keep the others waiting much."

"Eh, they're probably fine. We probably shouldn't keep them waiting any longer though." Rin said with a shrug.

"Right, let's get going then." The silvet said to the Matsuoka siblings. Gou nodded in agreement, and the three walked to the school together in silence

…..

Deeply engrossed in the board game, the four teens were huddled around a medium sized table, on top laid a neatly placed board game. It was Rei's turn and he was placing his fingers in front of his mouth in thought.

"Just make a move already." Haru told him, staring at Rei. Nagisa lightly kicked his feet against his chair, excited for his turn as he watched Rei. Finally, Rei nodded to himself and made his turn, raising his hand to lift and relocate his blue piece. Next was Nagisa's turn.

Nagisa stared at the board for a moment, nodding slowly before moving his piece. That's when three people walked in. "Hey everyone! Merry Christmas!" Gou cheerfully called, Rin and Aii following close behind.

Nagisa turned around in his chair to look at them then. "Oh, about time! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" Mako repeated.

"Sorry we're late; we were held up as I said." Aiichiro apologized.

"It's fine. You're all here now." Haru told them, standing up.

Spotting the table with the presents with his bright blue eyes, Nitori offered to set down all their presents there. Gou nodded, taking the presents out of her bag to give them to Aii. "You got that?"

"Yeah." Aii reassured with a smile before offering his arms loaded with presents to Rin for him to set them down there also.

Rin hesitantly gave his presents to Aii, as Gou slipped past the two, walking to the table and looking at the board. "Ooh, Rei's winning, I see."

As Aii carefully walked over to set the presents down, Rei gave a confident grin. "It's not too difficult if you know the strategy to win as I do."

"I'm gonna beat you somehow!" Nagisa quickly told him, giving him a challenging smirk.

The bespectacled young man grinned and pressed up on his glasses as Aiichiro returned to the table. "I welcome the challenge."

Mako let out a small chuckle at their behavior.

"Good. Be prepared to go down!" Nagisa said, leaning back in his chair and smirking. Rin walked over too, staring at the board for a moment. "Are you guys still going to be playing until you're done with the game then?"

"We could play another game while they are." Aii suggested.

"Eh, true." Rin said with a shrug.

"I'll find us a game to play!" Gou told them before running off to find another board game. Now, it was Mako's turn to play. He hummed in thought for a moment before raising his hand and moving his piece.

After Haru took his turn, Rei smirked and positioned his piece in the perfect spot to knock both Haruka and Makoto out of the game. "You left yourselves wide open." He remarked.

"Ah, well, good game regardless." Mako nodded, accepting defeat like the good sport he was.

After he finished speaking, the sapphire haired young man turned his gaze to the blond boy, pressing up his glasses. "Well then, it seems only you and I are left."

Nagisa grinned at him. "You're going down Rei-chan." He told him before carefully moving his piece.

His opponent scoffed before he swiftly parried Nagisa's assault. "We'll see about that."

Nagisa squinted, quickly moving again. "Mm-hm."

"Wow." Haru commented, watching them.

"Hah, you could never trip me up with that move." Rei smirked, going in for the offensive.

"You guys are really getting into it huh?" Mako commented more to himself than to his friends.

"Pfft, of course you would catch that." Nagisa muttered, staring at where Rei moved, before hesitantly moving again to make sure he was out of Rei's line of attack, and ignoring Haru's and Makoto's comments.

On the other table sat a stack of cards laid neatly on the table, another game in session. The silvet took the first move, laying a card down on the table. Gou nodded at his card, staring at it a little longer before putting her card down as well, revealing what it was. Rin smirked confidently, putting his down as well. Rin's card was an ace, trumping all the other cards so he won the round. Gou frowned slightly, picking up her next card and placing it down and Rin did the same, glancing over to Aii. After he placed his king down, Aii won the round.

After many more rounds, Gou was in the lead, with the most sizable stack in her possession. Rin sighed, running his fingers through his magenta colored hair. "I hate this game."

"Do you want to stop playing then?" Aiichiro suggested.

Gou scoffed before Rin could even say anything. "What, you two afraid to lose?"

"Oh, that's not quite what I meant." He responded sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "It's just better to play a game that we all enjoy."

"You realize he wants to stop playing because he's losing, right?" Gou asked, crossing her arms.

"That's not true!" Rin snapped. "It's just getting old now."

The silvet's blue orbs gazed past Rin and saw that the others were sitting down, waiting for them. "Uh, they're done though."

"Hm?" Gou glanced over her shoulder to look at them, seeing that Aii was right. "Oh... well... we might as well stop then, before they pick another game waiting for us."

It only took a minute for the seven teens to engage in several huddles of socializing. Soon, the room was filled with chatter from each respective group, though; it wasn't to the point that it was too noisy like back in the train Rin and Aii were on. Makoto and Haru sat next to the each other talking, still at the table as the others were around, chatting and having fun. Though as silence fell between the two, footsteps rushed over to them. "Hey guys!" Gou greeted them, smiling as she placed a box down on the table.

Emerald eyes lighting up in curiosity, Makoto glanced to the box on the table before meeting eyes with Gou. "Hello, Gou." He greeted before continuing. "What do you have there?"

Gou continued to smile, looking down at the box and opening it. "Well... it's just a little something I decided to make for the occasion." She slid the box over to Haru and Makoto so they could look inside it, and Haru leaned forward, raising an eyebrow.

"Cookies?"

Gou nodded, eagerly. "Yep! Would you to care to try some?"

"Wow, they are decorated perfectly too." Mako nodded in agreement to the array of gingerbread men, snowman, and Santa Clauses. "Thanks, Gou." He smiled warmly before taking a cookie from the arrangement.

She crossed her arms, watching Makoto. "Well?"

"They're great." Mako appraised, taking another cookie after finishing the first one.

Gou chuckled. "They're so good your going back for seconds, huh? Glad to hear it! Just don't eat too many. I want the others to be able to have one too!"

Before Mako could reply, he glanced to his left to notice that his childhood friend Haruka was nowhere to be seen. Gosh, he hadn't even seen him leave! "Gou, did you see where Haru went?" He questioned.

"Hm?" Gou glanced over to where Haru was sitting at. "Umm... I don't know, he kinda just got up in left. Maybe he had to go to the bathroom though."

Sighing, Mako ran a hand through his brown locks. "I better go look for him. I don't trust him around water."

"Yeah, probably for the best," Gou said. "Good luck finding him."

He immediately headed to the water, hoping that his hunch was wrong. However, it soon proved correct when he saw Rei and Nagisa holding one of each of the ebony haired boys' arms and yanking him away from the water. Mako sighed again. _Doesn't he realize it's December and the water's freezing? Or does he just not care?_

"Honestly, how could you even be thinking about swimming in this weather?" Nagisa asked, shaking his head and letting go of Haru, hesitantly.

Haru sighed, staring at the water longingly.

"Exactly!" Rei agreed, pressing up on his glasses. "It's utterly ridiculous."

Deciding to enter the conversation, Mako walked up to them. "That's just how he is." He explained sheepishly, before trying to change the subject. "Haru, did you ever taste Gou's cookies?"

Haru looked up at Makoto. "No, not yet."

"Wait, she made cookies?" Nagisa asked excitedly.

"Yep! You should all go try them!" Mako suggested jovially.

"Sounds good! C'mon Haru!" Nagisa said, tugging on Haru's sleeve before walking past him. Haru looked one last time at the pool before silently following Nagisa back into the house. When the four teens headed inside, they noticed that Rin and Nitori had already found the cookies Gou had made. Soon, they followed after their lead, crowding around the table.

"Mhm, these are amazing!" Nagisa exclaimed after taking a bite of one of the cookies.

"Well, I hope you all enjoy them! I was worried about how they'd turn out." Gou said with a laugh.

"Yes, I agree." Aii nodded in agreement.

"They're not as good as Mackerel." Haru muttered as he ate his cookie, barely audible.

After they had finished with the cookies, Rei suggested that it would be appropriate to open up the presents now.

"Sounds good to me!" Nagisa quickly agreed, along with the others. So they all gathered around the table where all the presents were put at.

"So, who should go first? Should we draw sticks?" Mako suggested.

"That sounds like that'd be the best way to do it." Gou told him with a nod then.

"Right then," Makoto nodded, departing the room for a moment to find some sticks for them to use, before returning and offering them to his friends. Nagisa immediately grabbed a stick, and Gou picked one too, along with Rin and Haru, followed by Nitori, Rei and Mako received the last one since he was the one holding them.

"Okay..." Gou said, glancing at her friends. "Who got the longest one?"

After looking at each other's sticks, Haru hummed. "It seems I'll go first then." He walked over to the boxes of presents then, looking through them until he found one that had his name on it. He carefully began to unwrap it then.

Once he carefully took the wrapping off, he opened the box only to see a cloth of sorts. He raised an eyebrow, grabbing it up, only to find out it was an apron. "Ah... Makoto, thank you."

"You're welcome." Mako smiled.

After Haru was done, it was revealed to be Rei's turn, so he stepped forward and took hold of a present that had colorful wrapping all around, dwarfing some of the other presents in appearance. Not surprising since the sender was Nagisa.

Once he removed the colorful paper, it was revealed to be a book from one of his favorite authors. Smiling happily, he thanked Nagisa. "Thank you, Nagisa; this was quite thoughtful of you."

Nagisa laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah, you're welcome!"

It turned out that it was Rin's turn next, and he looked through the presents for a moment before finding one with his name on it, from Aii. After taking the gift wrapping off, he opened the box to see a pair of goggles. He smirked, looking at Aii. "Ah, thanks. I'll definitely use these sometime."

The silvet smiled warmly. "You're welcome."

Once Rin was finished, it was apparent that Mako was next in line. Differing from the one he had assisted Haruka in wrapping, this present was decorated with a plain green wrapping paper. Upon unwrapping, it was revealed to be one of Makoto's favorite snacks: a few chocolate bars. Smiling at his childhood friend's thoughtfulness, the brunet spoke. "Thanks a lot, Haru!"

Haru glanced away from him. "Yeah, you're welcome, Makoto."

Next up turned out to be Nagisa's turn. He happily looked through the presents, deciding that he'd start with a present that Rei gave him. He began excitedly taking off the wrappings, and opening the box once he was done.

Once he opened the box lid, he gasped in surprise when his eyes landed on a stuffed penguin. "Aw, it's adorable! Thanks so much, Rei-chan!"

"You're welcome; I thought you would like it." Rei nodded.

"Well, you were definitely right! I love it!" Nagisa told him, holding the penguin close to his chest.

Once the blond was done with his presents, it was revealed to be the Nitori's turn. The first present he had his eyes on was from his roommate, wrapped with velvet and snowflakes. Eagerly, he unwrapped it to reveal a book he was rather fond of and he smiled warmly. "Thank you very much, Rin!"

"Hey, no problem," Rin told him, shrugging a little.

"Well, I guess it's my turn now then." Gou said, glancing around at everyone before walking over to the table of presents, picking one up. She wanted to see what her brother gave her first. The box was very small, so she couldn't help but wonder what was in it. She took in breath, undoing the small ribbon and taking the wrapping off. It was a white box, and when she took the lid of, she saw a necklace. She smiled. "It's beautiful. Thanks Rin."

"That's good. I know you're probably not exactly the jewelry type, but I thought you might like it..." Rin mumbled.

"No, I really do. It's lovely." Gou assured him, looking back down at the necklace, and Rin just nodded in response.

Despite the gift giving portion being over after Gou's turn, the celebrations were not. The seven teens continued on for several hours more with talking, laughing and some festive games to top it off. By the end, each of them was full of enough cheer to bring them through the next day and all the ways to New Year's.

 _Fin_


End file.
